For his first year at Calgary Flames training camp, Matthew Tkachuk was in survival mode, constantly trying to prove himself.

Last fall as a sophomore and legitimate National Hockey League forward, the 20-year-old was ready to take a step forward — as a player and from a team perspective.

This year?

“It’s all focused on how can I help get our team back to the playoffs and ultimately go far and accomplish something special with this group,” Tkachuk said. “I hope everyone else has that mentality because I think that thinking about ourselves, deep down you always want to play well and help your team win, but this year in particular, you have to focus solely on the team.”

The 2018-19 edition of the Flames is a completely renovated roster which GM Brad Treliving kicked off with the hiring of new head coach Bill Peters, continued with trading away Dougie Hamilton, acquiring ‘The Real Deal’ James Neal and inking potential roster additions.

Tkachuk reported to Wednesday’s ‘voluntary’ veteran fitness testing, which had been pushed ahead a few weeks early because of the team’s trip to China, with a clean bill of health. He had suffered a season-ending concussion on March 11 after tripping over a falling Mathew Barzal and colliding into the boards during a 5-2 home loss to the New York Islanders.

No lingering symptoms, other than the hunger leftover from missing the back half of the 2018 season as the Flames missed the NHL playoffs and finished 20th overall.

But what was clear is Tkachuk’s optimism as he peers at this year’s list of new additions.

“I like the forwards we brought in,” Tkachuk said. “I think there are a lot of options. There’s a lot of guys you can find chemistry with early in camp. This camp we have sets up for an opportunity to get to know your new teammates, new coaches and everything.

“What excites me is the new vibe and energy.”

Included in that new vibe is a new relationship with Peters.

Tkachuk met with the Flames boss several times over the summer, including a visit Peters took to Toronto to visit the 6-foot-2, 202-lb. forward in person.

There has been off-season chatter from Peters who has given some predictions about line combinations for this coming season. With the departure of Micheal Ferland, who had played on the right side with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan for the better part of two seasons, there is a gaping hole that needs to be filled.

Along with Elias Lindholm, a right-handed centre/winger, there’s Neal who has experience on his off-wing as well as Tkachuk who has played left wing for the past two years in the NHL and nearly all of his junior career.

Tkachuk indicated that he practised this off-season with the option to play his off-wing in mind.

“I think I worked a little bit more on catching my passes on my backhand side or on my off-wing coming down the wing on three-on-twos,” Tkachuk said. “You don’t go out of your way to practice that stuff, but maybe you think about it more. Maybe you try harder on it in the summer because you might actually end up on that side, whereas before, I was pretty much glued on the left side.”

That being said …

“It’s one of those things where you’re not on the left side the whole game,” said Tkachuk who has played with centre Mikael Backlund and right winger Michael Frolik on the team’s second line for the majority of the last two seasons. “Your first option coming back is going to the left side. But we’re in the NHL and should be able to catch a pass on our backhand, right? I don’t know if the adjustment will be too hard. It’ll be a little different picking up (pucks that) rim (around the boards), but it’s nothing I haven’t done. I just think if you are given that opportunity (on the top line with Gaudreau and Monahan), it’s two guys I haven’t played with yet.”

This year is an interesting one for Tkachuk who faces an expiring contract at the end of the 2018-19 season. He indicated that he wants to keep conversations strictly business — on-ice business, that is.

“I’m not really going to talk about that stuff during this year,” Tkachuk said. “I feel like it’s just in the way … I know that there was (talk) if something doesn’t get figured out this summer, we’ll wait until next summer. That’s fine. Because I just want to talk about hockey this year and I feel like that other stuff gets in the way of doing something special with this group.”

While the Flames rookies report on Thursday for their physicals and fitness testing and hit the ice this weekend, the veteran group will be skating in more informal ice sessions prior to leaving for China next Tuesday.

And while they won’t officially begin training camp until the team arrives in Shenzhen and won’t actually play a game until Sept. 15, according to Tkachuk, it has already started.

“It’s not like you’re just bringing in guys that may or may not play,” Tkachuk said. “We’re bringing in two top-nine forwards, a top-four (d-man) and a full new coaching staff. You don’t really know who you’re going to end up playing with or what the lines are going to be or the pairings.

“I looked at the schedule, and we have a ton of pre-season games, so that will be good for us to hammer down a nice little roster.”

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